Beyond the Veil
by Xennariel
Summary: Six months after the Promised Day, two military officers Riza's never seen before show up at Central HQ as if they'd always been there. When no one else questions their presence, Riza brings it to Roy's attention and they attempt to uncover who these officers are and their possible connections with the recent influx of horrible murders and arson. - Royai
1. The Dream

A white room. A grinning figure. A price not paid.

A towering gate with an intricate array creaked open and in a flash the room was gone. The grinning, white figure was replaced by a tall man with long, shockingly red hair. Tawny skin stretched over bony cheeks as he sneered, revealing sharpened fangs that glinted in the moonlight. Long, dark horns twisted from his temples. He stepped forward, red and black armor shifting, reflecting the flames that engulfed buildings as he passed.

Fire was nothing new to Riza Hawkeye. She'd almost become desensitized to smoke and flames. No, what horrified her was _what_ was on fire. The east end of Central was burning and, unarmed and alone, she could only watch helplessly as the horned man ignited blaze after blaze with a flick of his wrist.

How another had come to learn flame alchemy baffled her. And she could see no array anywhere on the man or in the vicinity. How, then, was he using flame alchemy? Had he seen the gate, just as Roy and Edward had? The man was not clapping before each transmutation so she quickly ruled that out.

Unless it wasn't flame alchemy at all?

Riza's head throbbed suddenly and she ducked into the shadows as the man drew closer, a small army of others behind him, some horned, some with wings, all appearing inhuman. As they marched past her hiding place, the horned man stopped. The rest continued to walk, but he breathed in deeply, smelling the air. Riza crouched further into her hiding place, gritting her teeth against the splitting pain in her skull, fighting the urge to cough as smoke filled her lungs. She couldn't afford to move. The horned man was feet from her and would surely see her if she was anything but motionless.

All her sniper training kept her still and focused, but it was for nothing. The man slowly turned and his gaze fixated on her, blood red eyes full of mirth and madness.

"I see you, little one," he spoke, voice a heavy baritone. It sent chills down Riza's spine. "But you're too late. This world is mine now."

His gaze was malicious and she knew she had to run. Panic flared up when she realized she couldn't move. Her head pounded ruthlessly and she fell over, gripping her head in her hands. The pain left her frozen on the ground and she screamed as a blast of fire came barreling at her.

Her eyes flew open and the streets of Central were gone. She was sitting upright in her bed, breathing heavy and erratic. Hayate whined from his place on the floor near her.

A dream. It had only been a dream? It felt so real. She was used to dreaming of homunculi and Father after the events of the Promised Day, even at six months after the whole ordeal. But this was different. Somehow, she knew the people she saw were not homunculi. They were something else. Something that was somehow more sinister, more terrifying.

Riza took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart and noticed Hayate watching her with worry. She sighed and smiled at him, patting the bed next her. The dog jumped up and nestled in the blankets at her side.

"Good boy," she murmured, scratching him behind the ears.

Sun filtered in through a space in her curtains and a quick glance at her alarm clock told her it was almost time for her to get up anyway, so with one last pat on Hayate's head, she pushed the covers aside and got out of bed, yawning and stretching, ready to put the dream behind her and get ready for the day.

 **000000**

Roy sauntered into the office earlier than usual that morning. It was an important day for his team and him. It was the day Fuhrer Grumman would give them the details of their assignment in Ishval. If everything went according to plan, Team Mustang would be stationed in Ishval in a matter of months in order to rebuild what they had destroyed years ago. It was finally happening. They were finally moving forward. Roy might not have been Fuhrer yet, but with his new rank of Brigadier General and Grumman supporting his ideas, it was only a matter of time. And rebuilding Ishval was a step in the right direction toward some kind of redemption.

He was mildly surprise to see Riza at her desk, alone in the office, already diligently working, a steaming mug of tea next to her paperwork.

"Captain. Good morning! You're here earlier than usual."

Riza looked up, seeming almost startled that he was there. Like she hadn't heard him enter the office. Roy furrowed his brow. It was unlike Riza to be so distracted, even if she was working.

"Good morning, sir," she replied. "What are you doing here so early?"

There was something off in her demeanor, the way she spoke, and he caught the subtle differences immediately.

"Big day," he answered absently, waving the question off. "More importantly, is everything okay?"

"Of course, sir." Riza's reply was quick. Automatic. Forced. "As you said, it's a big day."

Roy was unconvinced, but he nodded and passed her to sit at his desk. If she didn't want to talk about what was troubling her, he wouldn't press the subject. She'd tell him when she wanted to.

They worked in silence for over an hour before the rest of the team filed in and soon the office was a buzz of chatter as the team discussed the new assignment that would be waiting for them in just a few months. There was still something bothering Riza and though he laughed and talked to his men as if it were any normal day, Roy kept his eye on his most precious subordinate. Her behavior was only slightly off. Any normal person wouldn't even notice a difference. But Roy Mustang was not just any normal person. He knew her better than anyone.

"Captain," Roy spoke up late that morning. "I need to speak with you in my office, please."

Riza looked up, a questioning look on her face as she nodded and stood to follow Roy into his interior office. She closed the door behind her and faced Roy who stood leaning against the front of his desk, arms crossed, concerned gaze scrutinizing her carefully.

"I know I asked you this morning, but are you sure everything's all right? You seem… distracted today."

Riza's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before she regained her composure.

"I… It's nothing, sir. I had an… odd dream last night and it's been on my mind. Nothing I can't handle myself."

Roy frowned. He opened his mouth to respond, but a knock on the door interrupted him. He sighed heavily.

"What?!"

"We've got investigation duty," Havoc's voice came, muffled through the closed door. "There was a fire in the east part of the city last night and no one can figure out who or what caused it."

Roy groaned and went to reply to Havoc, catching an odd look cross Riza's features that worried him even more than before.

"Head over there. We'll follow you shortly."

"Yes, sir."

Havoc's footsteps receded and the team left the office, the door slamming behind them.

"What was with that reaction, Captain?"

Eyes wide, Riza looked up at Roy. She seemed astonished, like Havoc had just delivered the worst news of her life.

"My dream," she breathed. "I dreamt that someone was burning the east side of Central last night."

Roy paused in the middle of putting on his coat, turning to her with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sure that's just a coincidence."

Riza nodded, not quite believing him as they left the office.

Roy was trying to reassure her. Logically, there was no way her dream could have been relaying actual events from that night. But when they arrived at the scene, the evidence was hard to dispute. The exact block and buildings that the horned man burned in her dream were charred and ruined before her eyes.

Roy caught her gaze while he was questioning another officer. The unspoken terror behind her eyes was enough to make him nearly push past the man he was listening to and run to her side. He held back, biting his tongue as the investigations officer finished his report. Talking to her would have to wait until they were finished.

Returning his attention to the man in front of him, Roy nodded, as if he'd been listening the entire time.

"Do we have any suspects yet?"

The younger officer shook his head.

"No, sir. We've been at it for hours and there are no leads yet."

"Keep me posted. If this isn't just an accident, we need to catch whoever did this before they strike again."

"Yes, sir!"

The young officer saluted and hurried off to resume his investigations duties. Roy was finally able to make his way back over to Riza and he stopped at her side, looking around in a nonchalant manner as he spoke to her in a quiet voice.

"You still seem troubled."

"This was the exact place that was burned in my dream."

Disbelief flashed across Roy's face and his head snapped to look at her.

"We'll discuss this later. Wait in the car for now. You look pale."

"No, I… ah... " Roy glared and her and she sighed. "Yes, sir."

She gave a half hearted salute and walked back to his car to wait for him and collect her jumbled thoughts. It was supposed to have been a good day, a positive day, but instead it took a turn for the strange and unsettling.

 **000000**

 _Hey everyone, thanks for reading! This story is a crossover between FMAB and my original novel, Grim Aria. I know I haven't finished Through Eyes of Flame yet, but this idea has been stewing in my mind for the past few months and with the release of the prologue to my novel just a couple of days ago, I really wanted to start writing this. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Comments are always loved and appreciated!_


	2. Strangers

Welcome to chapter 2! Thank you so much to Shijaeger and antimoony for you kind comments. I'm happy you like this story so far!

 **000000**

It was late afternoon by the time Roy and Riza were able to leave the scene of the fire. Dark clouds rolled in and the bright Autumn day turned dim and cool as they drove. Roy was behind the wheel despite Riza's insistence that she was fine and could drive, but the haunted look in her eyes and the way she held herself betrayed her.

Roy asked her to recount her dream to him and she sighed, turning to look out the window at the steadily darkening sky. She explained the white room and figure, the gate, the horned man and his small army of inhuman looking people, her pounding headache, how he had seen her though it was dark and she hadn't moved or breathed. How it was like he had sniffed her out. How she woke up in a cold sweat and was unable to shake how it had all felt so real.

"And now the exact place in the city that burned in my dream really _was_ the location of a fire. I don't know what to think. It's impossible that I saw what was happening in real time as I slept."

"What was it that Alphonse Elric told us the homunculus Greed had said? Nothing's impossible? After everything we saw only six months ago, I'm willing to believe more than I would have had this happened prior to all of that. And that white place with the grinning figure and the gate? That was where I was taken after they forced me to perform human transmutation. That figure was the thing that called itself Truth and took my sight. There's no way you would describe it so perfectly without having been there yourself."

Riza shot him a withered, incredulous look. Roy actually believed that what she saw in her dream was real? Since when did he believe in supernatural hogwash? For that matter, when did she?

In an unconscious movement, her hand went to her throat, fingers touching where she knew a thin scar marred the skin beneath her turtleneck. The horrors they'd been through on the Promised Day were still fresh in her mind. How could either of them continue to deny the existence of the unexplainable when the homunculi had been all too real?

Roy frowned when he caught her staring off, hand resting on her neck. An image of her bleeding out on the cold, stone floor flashed through his mind and he grit his teeth, anguish bubbling up at the memory. There was never a time since Hughes' death that he'd felt more useless and broken than when he was forced to watch her life slowly ebb away, flowing out from her like a macabre rose in bloom. He vowed to never let something like that happen to her, or anyone, ever again. Not if he could help it.

Silence filled the car for the rest of the trip back to headquarters. Roy pulled into a parking space in front of the building with a heavy sigh.

"Let's just try to take it easy and get through the rest of the day. Grumman's probably waiting for us."

Riza nodded. They silently exited the car and she fell into step at her usual place behind Roy. They strode through headquarters as if nothing unsettling had happened to them. The two guards stationed outside of the Fuhrer's office saluted when Roy neared and one of them knocked on the door. Grumman's voice came from inside and the young soldier entered the office, informing the fuhrer that Mustang and Hawkeye had arrived.

"Good, good, let them in!" The soldier saluted and exited the office, informing Roy and Riza that they could enter. They stepped into the office and saluted Fuhrer Grumman who promptly waved them off. "Have a seat, you two. I'm glad you could finally make it."

"Yes, sir," Roy said as he and Riza sat in the chairs placed in front of the fuhrer's desk. "It took much longer than expected to wrap things up on the east side."

"Yes, yes, the fires. I was informed of the incident, though I haven't seen it for myself. Is it really that bad?"

"Four buildings completely charred beyond repair."

Grumman sighed.

"Well, let's not let this event ruin today's good news, hm? I've finalised the details and In five months time, your team will be stationed at East City headquarters, with you as the commanding officer. A month after that, you'll be going to Ishval. I'm putting you in charge of the reconstruction, Mustang. Provided you can deal with the the latest string of murders and arson before then."

It was good news. They were moving up. A promotion immediately after the Promised Day and being put in charge of the headquarters for an entire area of Amestris just a few months later was the best news Roy had heard in years. The problem was Grumman's last sentence. It troubled him and he furrowed his brow at the fuhrer. Roy hadn't heard anything about murders.

"I'm sorry, sir, but, what murders?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard. It's been all over the news for a month." That explained it. Roy hadn't been paying attention to the news in a while. He'd been preoccupied with Riza's recovery from her injuries on the Promised Day and Havoc's physical therapy and reintroduction to the military after being healed with the Philosopher's Stone. "People have been found dead in their homes all over the city. Fourteen people in one month, all killed in the same way: large stab wounds through their chests that appear to have been cauterized, as if the blade used was heated to extreme temperatures."

"Are there any links connecting the people that have been killed?"

Grumman shook his head.

"Not that I've heard, but I'm not the one to talk to about this. You'll have to ask investigations. They know more than I do. If you and your team could help them figure this out within the next few months, there might even be another promotion in it for you. That's all the news I have for you. You're dismissed."

Roy did his best to hide the excitement a possible promotion elicited within him. That would make him a full general at only thirty, the youngest in history.

"Thank you, sir," Roy said as he and Riza stood and saluted. "I'll be earning that promotion, I assure you."

Grumman chuckled.

"I know you will, boy."

Riza followed Roy out of the office and down the hall, heading in the direction of Roy's office.

"I wonder if there's any connection with the recent fire and these murders," Riza spoke quietly so only Roy could hear.

Roy knew she was also referring to her dream and he narrowed his eyes, pondering the thought. With the way Grumman said people were being killed, with some kind of large, hot blade, it wasn't a stretch to assume the murders and the fire were related. But where did Riza's dream fit into all of it? Were any of these events really connected?

Two officers ahead of them caught Riza's attention and she furrowed her brow, openly looking them over. She was positive she'd never seen them before and she would certainly have remembered these two, not only because Roy and Riza knew most of the officers ranked at colonel or higher, but also because these two seemed out of place.

The officers walked in a similar fashion to the way Roy and Riza did. One of them was a young man of moderate height and build. His too-long, messy dark hair was pulled into a loose ponytail and he wore the marks of a colonel on his shoulders. Riza thought he looked far too young to be a colonel.

The other was a young woman following behind and slightly to the right of the supposed colonel, the same way Riza followed Roy. The young woman was short, much like Edward used to be if Riza had to compare her to someone. She had the marks of a lieutenant on her shoulders and waist length azure hair that stood out in striking contrast to everyone else around her. It was a wonder to Riza that no one else even looked twice at her or the colonel she was following.

They were definitely out of the ordinary and Riza was absolutely positive she had never seen them in Central before that moment. She looked up at Roy who hadn't even glanced at the officers as they passed. Even more confused now at his reaction, Riza, in a completely out of character move, stopped Roy in the hall by grabbing his wrist and tugging.

"Sir," Riza said. Roy immediately stopped and turned at the tug on his arm and the sharpness in her voice, eyes wide and full of question.

"Captain?"

"Did you not see that colonel and lieutenant?"

"Who?"

Riza huffed and pointed down the hall after the strange officers. When Roy's eyes fell on them, Riza watched in confusion as he stared off before slowly coming to his senses. As if his eyes had been glazed over and he was in a daze until Riza had pulled him out of it by bringing his attention to the younger officers.

"What the… who are...?"

Roy stuttered and his bewilderment was hard to miss as he looked from Riza to the strange officers.

"Exactly."

Roy looked around at the others in the hall with them. No one else seemed to find the officers out of place, but they were all staring at Roy and Riza.

"I have no idea what just happened," Roy muttered, standing straight and regaining his composure as best he could. "But we should probably follow them."

"Right," Riza agreed, putting her work face back on before anyone got any more suspicious of the way they were acting.

Roy hurried off down the hall in as casual a manner as he could muster and Riza followed close behind, hand hovering over the gun at her waist. They arrived at the stairwell and with a quick glance at one another, Roy shoved the door open and Riza jumped in front of him with her gun drawn.

Where they expected to find the two unusual officers, they were met with nothing but an echoing, empty stairwell. Roy and Riza hadn't been _that_ far behind. There was no way the other officers could have outrun them that quickly. Yet somehow, they disappeared. Roy and Riza looked at each other, mirroring the same uneasy, baffled expression.

Things were getting even stranger and with no one else even batting an eye at the colonel and lieutenant that had suddenly appeared and somehow disappeared like ghosts, they knew it would be up to them to figure out what the hell was going on in Central City.

 **000000**

Thanks for reading! As always, comments are very much loved and appreciated! They're my life blood and give me motivation to keep writing.


	3. Archive 3

Thank you very much to Shijaeger for the review! I'm so happy you're enjoying this fic! I hope you all enjoy this chapter too and don't forget, comments are loved and give me life. They're the biggest motivation for me to keep writing!

 **000000**

Informing Fuhrer Grumman of what they'd seen was the first thing Roy and Riza did the following morning.

"I'm... not sure who you're referring to?" Grumman frowned after they'd explained the situation to him. He appeared to be just as confused as they were. "I've seen no officers fitting those descriptions. I think I'd remember them if I had."

His response was unexpected, which made them question if they had really seen the two officers at all. They had _both_ witnessed them though, so it couldn't have been a hallucination. Frustrated and with no more information than they had before going into the fuhrer's office, Roy and Riza left, knowing exactly where their quest for answers would take them next.

They walked with purpose toward the archives and, after a quick look to make sure no one else was around, they let themselves into Room 3 - the archive where personal information about every soldier in Central was stored. It wasn't exactly off limits to a brigadier general, but they wanted to avoid questions about why they were entering that particular archive. Earning the suspicions their fellow soldiers would make things even more complicated than they already were.

Roy and Riza delved into the files once they locked the door behind them. In order to avoid gaining unwanted attention, they kept the lights off. Roy held up a small flame above his finger to shed some light on the paperwork they were pouring over.

Riza gathered up recent files and brought them over to Roy at the small table in the center of the room. When they finished going over a batch of files, she'd return them to their place and bring a new stack back with her. They continued on in this efficient pattern for almost an hour until Roy threw his hands up and growled, slumping back in his chair with a scowl.

"There's _nothing_! None of these recent transfers look remotely close to the officers we saw! They _have_ to be imposters! There's no way they've been here longer than we have."

"Yes. Perhaps we should go over older files though, sir. Just in case."

Roy sighed, running his hand over his face in an attempt to wipe the fatigue away. He hadn't slept well that night, still reeling over witnessing the disappearing act of the strange colonel and lieutenant. The lack of sleep was getting to him.

"Yeah. You're right. As always."

Riza stood, gathering up the files they'd just gone through, and hurried to replace them, bringing a new set of older files back with her to the table.

"There has to be some explana- Ouch!" Riza moved too quickly and almost dropped some of the files. Her hand shot out to catch them, but she was at an awkward angle and one of the manilla folders sliced her finger.

Roy jumped up at her exclamation.

"Lieutenant? You alright?"

"Just a papercut, sir," Riza replied, returning the files to their places before addressing her now bleeding finger.

Roy approached her and whipped out a handkerchief from his breast pocket, holding out his free hand toward her.

"Let me see."

With a skeptical look and much hesitation, Riza finally lifted her hand and placed it in his. Gently, Roy brought her hand closer to himself so he could inspect the cut. It was deep and bleeding profusely. He dabbed at it to wipe away the blood around the cut, his grip on her hand warm and soft. Riza was suddenly reminded of when he came to help her after she'd been released from the hospital after the Promised Day. He'd been caring and gentle then too.

His face when he was concentrating always warmed her heart and that moment was certainly no exception. His eyes were glued to the cut on her finger, movements slow and delicate as he cleaned the wound and wrapped the handkerchief around it just tight enough so it would stem the bleeding but not cut off circulation. She couldn't help the small smile that curved her lips as she watched him nod in satisfaction at his handiwork before lifting his eyes to hers. He saw her smile and raised his brow in question, still holding her hand.

"What?"

"It's nothing," Riza replied, an airy laugh escaping her lips before the smile fell from her face.

They were standing close together. Too close. And he was still holding her hand. The reality of their situation dawned on her. If someone walked in, they were in a pretty compromising position. In that moment though, Riza couldn't find the willpower to move away. His hand in hers was comforting. He was warm and familiar and his presence was soothing.

Instead of stepping back, she stepped closer and he did the same, eyes locked, gazes never wavering as they drew closer, slowly closing the gap between them.

The handle on the door behind them rattled, breaking the serenity of the moment.

Riza gasped and Roy's eyes flew open. They were mere inches apart and their startled expressions matched. Immediately they tore away from each other, scrambling to return the files and hide before whoever was outside the door found them and started asking unwanted questions. They ducked behind a bookshelf and wedged themselves between it and the wall. It was almost an even worse position to be caught in than their near-kiss situation moments earlier, but with no time to choose a better hiding place, they froze and waited, hoping whoever it was would leave quickly.

The door handle rattled a couple more times before a frustrated growl came from the other side of the door and a small flash of light lit up the handle. The lock clicked over and the door opened. In a strange turn of events, the people that entered the room were the last ones Roy and Riza had expected to see.

In walked the two people whose identities Roy and Riza had spent the better part of two hours trying to uncover.

"Are you sure this is the right one?" The dark haired colonel spoke.

The room was fairly dark, but with the brightly lit hall as their backdrop, the colonel and lieutenant's silhouettes were easy to see. They looked around cautiously as they stepped into the room.

"Yes I'm sure," the azure haired lieutenant hissed. "That woman with the short hair and glasses confirmed it. You know, the one in charge of these things?"

"Right. Let's just drop this in and go."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it. I can't believe that damn blonde captain saw through us yesterday. And alerting the brigadier general she was with? Tch..." The azure haired girl scoffed as she brought what looked like a manilla folder over to one of the file cabinets, flipped through the folders already there, and dropped the one in her hands in between the others. "This is such a pain. How troublesome."

Roy and Riza looked at each other. This would possibly be their only opportunity to catch these people. Riza knew exactly what Roy was thinking and nodded. They ran from their hiding place, only a little awkwardly, and caught the lieutenant and colonel off guard. Riza trained her gun on the colonel while Roy lifted his hand, ready to snap should they try to flee.

"That's as far as you go," Roy said. "Thanks for making it easy to find you. I thought we'd be on a wild goose chase for the next month."

The colonel and lieutenant glanced at each other, no trace of humor on their faces. It looked like Roy and Riza lucked out. They'd bring these people to justice, the murders and arson would end, and Roy and Riza could go to East City sooner than expected.

The lieutenant and colonel smirked and dashed out of the line of fire so fast, Roy and Riza didn't have a chance to react. The dark haired colonel kicked the gun out of Riza's hand and it clattered to the floor, sliding across the room. The azure haired lieutenant dove behind Roy and kicked his legs out from under him. Roy fell unceremoniously to the ground, but rolled out of the way in one fluid motion as the azure haired girl tried to pin him.

"General!" Riza shouted, elbowing the dark haired boy in the side and diving for her gun.

The dark haired boy jumped in front of her and blocked her from picking up her gun. Riza leapt to her feet and threw a punch at the boy who spun out of it and ducked away, attempting to land his own punch. They sparred, kicking and punching back and forth, with Riza landing more blows than the boy.

Behind them, Roy and the girl also traded blows, with Roy mostly utilizing his clap alchemy to avoid any fire damage to the room. What he didn't expect - and he really should have, all things considered - was that the girl seemed to be able to use alchemy too, though it was nothing like any alchemy Roy had ever seen. She produced balls of shadow in her hands that crackled with blue and purple lightning, though Roy didn't see any alchemy circles on or near her. She wasn't clapping either so he ruled out the possibility of her having seen Truth.

Her alchemy was confusing, but he had no time to ponder it. He ducked and swiveled away from her shadow bolts, clapping and slapping his palms on the bookshelves and ground to create shield walls and spikes to try to stop her. He was too slow to react after the girl shot a particularly large bolt at him and it hit his leg, causing him to fall with a shout.

This caused Riza to be distracted for only a few seconds, but it was a few seconds too long. The boy dove at her, knocking her off her feet. Just when it seemed like he had the upper hand, Riza kneed him in the gut and locked her arm around his head, flipping them over, reaching for her gun, and pushing it into his head as she pinned him to the ground.

Roy snapped at the girl, finally far too annoyed at being stuck in a stalemate with her to refrain from using his flame alchemy any longer. The flames shot from his fingertips and the girl's eyes widened. She gasped, freezing in place. She folded her arms around herself and took a shaky step back just as the flames hit the bottom of her uniform coat and charred it.

"That's enough!" Riza shouted.

The girl saw the boy on the ground and she took a shaky breath, raising her hands in surrender. The azure haired lieutenant and the dark haired colonel were battered and bruised and Roy had cuts on his face and uniform, but Riza remained unharmed, unwinded, and ready to fight should the imposters try anything else.

"Who the hell are you people?" Roy demanded, standing and dusting off his uniform. He swiped his hand over the cut on his cheek to wipe away the blood. "You better have a good explanation for all this."


End file.
